iOS Board Game Spotlight - Ticket to Ride Pocket

In the tabletop gaming hobby, I am always trying to find ways to share my passion for gaming with non-gamers. I am always looking for fun, interesting games that have a shallow learning curve, but enough "meat" to the game that people are intrigued and want to dive deeper into the rabbit hole that is board gaming. Games like this are referred to as "gateway games". They are friendly introductions into the vast world of board gaming, but sometimes, even gateways need gateways as plunking down a board and bits can still be intimidating for some right off the bat. Fortunately, I have found one game that is exactly that. The game is Ticket to Ride Pocket.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not claiming that I am the only person that thinks Ticket to Ride by Alan R. Moon is a great gateway game. It is widely regarded as one of the best go-to introduction games around. It has won the Spiel des Jahres award (the tabletop equivalent to IGN's Game of the Year or an Academy Award in the movie industry) and sold thousands upon thousands of copies worldwide. Even with all of it's accolades though, the game itself in all of it's plastic and cardboard glory, could still be a little intimidating for the uninitiated.

Plastic trains, colorful cards, a huge map board...

This is where the beauty of smartphones comes in. With the massive success of the Apple and Android App Stores, many board games are making the transition to the small screen, and that change over is a big win for everyone involved. For those of us who already enjoy the real life versions of the games that are being made for iOS and Android, we get to take our favorites with us on the road. For those who have yet to experience the awesomeness that is tabletop gaming, the handheld versions provide an innocuous and less costly test drive.

The price point of apps vs. board games is a point that can't be overstated. Your average boardgame app will run anywhere from FREE to $4.99 or so. Some are a bit more expensive (I'm looking at you Carcassonne!), but overall it is a much easier financial pill to swallow than $20-$50 dollars for the true to life versions of the game. Buyer's remorse doesn't come into play when you are throwing a dollar at something you are just trying (unless it's a McDonald's McDouble cheeseburger, then there is all kinds of remorse, but I digress...). Having the game on your phone or "i" device also makes setup and tear down of a game non-existent, which is also a great perk. I have certain games that I won't buy physical copies of, not because I don't like them, but because it is just way easier to play on the iPad than to open up the box and set up a bunch of components.

Anyway, enough with the generalities of why it is great that board games are now apps. What about Ticket to Ride Pocket? Is it true to it's cardboard bretheren? How does it play? Can I play as an androgynous street tuft? The short answers are yes, great, and absolutely, but follow along of more explanation.

Player 2, what are you??

First and foremost, Ticket to Ride is a set collection game. The object of this game is to collect train cards of certain colors in order to play them and claim railroad tracks on the gameboard map. Claiming routes will net you points and if you connect certain routes from one city to another (New York to Miami, for example) then you will get extra points in the end game. If you,however, do not complete these routes, the points for that route will be counted against you at the end of the game. On each player's turn they can do one of three things, either grab cards from the community pile and draw deck, play cards to lay trains on the board, or grab more destination tickets (the cards with the routes on them). Play continues until someone is left with 2,1, or 0 trains left, then everyone gets one more turn, and the final score is tallied. The great thing about the Ticket to Ride app is that all of this rule rundown is actually done through a play as you go tutorial, so after playing through one training wheels game, you will know everything you need to know and be well on your way to becoming a bonafide rail baron.

The gameplay itself and interface are stellar. The touch screen controls allow you to choose cards and lay tracks easily. The route cards you currently are trying to complete are highlighted in green for easy recognition, and you can always see where you stand with the score of all the players at the top of the screen. The art design and colors in the app are true to the original game and are distinct enough to let you differentiate the different trains. The game plays in minutes because all of the "heavy lifting" is done by the app - tallying scores, corralling trains, etc. Days of Wonder did a great job taking this game and making it fun and accessible on your phone, which is no small feat considering the amount of room it takes to play Ticket to Ride in real life.

A Ticket to Ride Pocket game in progress

Playing the game by yourself is fun enough as you try to top your old high scores and take down the built in achievements, but another great feature in the app is that you can play multiplayer - and this is where it makes for a great gateway. There are a few ways to play multiplayer. Say you are killing some time at the airport with a friend before your flight arrives. You can choose the "pass n play" option and both of you can play the game on the same device, simply passing the device to the other player when it is their turn. You can also play on separate devices via a bluetooth connection by choosing "local game". The last multiplayer update done to the app was the most impressive. They added asynchronous multiplayer ala Words with Friends through the Apple GameCenter (I can only speak for this app on the iOS, sorry Android folks). You can get a game going with your buddies and play your turns at your leisure. The app dropped to free a few months ago and I convinced a handful of my friends to download it. Many of these friends had scoffed at my gaming habit...ahem, hobby in the past and wouldn't be involved in such geekery, but a free download..."sure, I'll give it a shot." I now play at least one game of Ticket to Ride Pocket a week with those friends through GameCenter, they got hooked. The online multiplayer option in this game really is the icing on the cake for me when it comes to this app. It was very good before it, but now it is great.

Now after repeated plays, any game can get stale, video or otherwise, thats why developers provide us with downloadable content and expansions to further extend the life of the game. Ticket to Ride is no exception. Within the app you can purchase expansions that change the city route cards in the game, and they have also adapted the Ticket to Ride: Europe game to it's own app to further quench your railroad thirst. While there is plenty to play just in the base game, it is nice that these are available.

Overall, I can't say enough about Ticket to Ride Pocket. It's a great adaptation of the award-winning board game and will provide you and your friends with hours of fun. For video gamers that are intrigued by tabletop games and are looking to dip their toes in the board gaming pool, this is a great one to start with. What are you waiting for, go download it now!

I hope you enjoyed this iOS Spotlight. If you did, please let me know in the comments section. I would love to hear what your favorite iOS board game is, or if you have had any particularly epic games of TTR recently (I love a good east to west route), or give me suggestions on which board game apps to profile in the future. I love to get your feedback and use it to improve my offerings on the blog.